Iontophoresis is employed for therapeutic topical treatment of humans or other organisms. Glikfeld et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,543, describes the use of iontophoresis to non-invasively sample a substance through skin into a receptor chamber on the skin surface. The Glikfeld device consists of two chambers, each containing an electrically conductive medium, which medium is in electrical contact with the skin. A positive electrode (anode) is disposed in one chamber, and a negative electrode (cathode) is disposed in the other. The two chambers are separated by an electrically insulating material. In use, a constant or pulsed current is generated by a power source between the electrodes through the skin. The direction of current flow never changes during sampling. Glikfeld does not correlate the collected substance levels with blood substance levels and does not address any problems associated with long term transdermal monitoring of a substance.
The Lattin and Spevak U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,658, Tapper U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,301,794, 4,340,047 and 5,224,927, Masaki U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,278, Masaki U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,702 and Masaki European Patent No. 230,153 describe the iontophoretic delivery of a substance across tissue. In addition, these publications describe operation methods in which the polarity of the applied electrical energy is reversed during delivery. None of these publications addresses extraction of substances from tissue or any of the problems associated with such extraction.
The Tapper '794 and '047 patents address the irritation caused by iontophoretic delivery of ionized molecules through skin. In the Tapper apparatus, all delivery occurs at a single electrode. Tapper determined that the irritation can be eliminated if the polarity of the applied current is reversed for equal periods. A complete and equal polarity reversal eliminates the molecule delivery, however. Tapper compromises by providing for a shorter period for the reverse direction and a longer period for the forward (substance delivery) direction.
The Tapper '927 patent discloses an apparatus that iontophoretically delivers a substance into the patient's skin from two source reservoirs, each attached to an electrode. The electrodes are connected to an AC power source having a frequency in the range of 0.0027-10 Hz. Use of an AC power source minimizes the build-up of irritating chemicals at positive and negative electrodes (e.g., HCl and H.sub.2 O.sub.2, respectively). Providing a source reservoir at both electrodes permits delivery from one of the reservoirs in each phase of the AC signal, thereby eliminating the drawback of using a single source reservoir noted in the earlier Tapper patents.
Some alternating polarity methods for drug delivery, such as in the Tapper '927 patent focus on prevention of pH changes. For many electrode systems, water hydrolysis upon the application of current causes the pH to dramatically decrease at the anode and increase at the cathode. This can cause skin irritation. Furthermore, the pH changes in the drug donor electrodes can reduce the amount of ionized drug relative to non-ionized drug in the donor depending on the pKa of the drug. These patents propose switching between the anode and cathode to prevent these pH changes, reducing irritation and possibly increasing drug flux, especially of ionizable drugs.
The Lattin and Spevak '658 patent allows for delivery from both electrodes, thus doubling the potential delivery area. For drug delivery applications, more area means more deliverable drug per application of a single device. However, for iontophoretic sampling applications, there is no advantage to doubling the area because total delivery is not an important factor. The amount that is sampled per area is more important because it is the substance concentration that is to be measured, not the total substance amount.
The Masaki patents disclose a device and a switch which can iontophorese both anions and cations by switching the polarity of the two electrodes during the treatment cycle. In the Masaki '702 patent, the cations and anions come from a single source reservoir attached to one electrode. The other two patents do not disclose where the cation and anion sources are located. In any event, these patents teach nothing about iontophoretic sampling from skin into a reservoir.
Sibalis U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,293 describes an "electrophoretic" drug delivery system in which a drug is delivered from a reservoir into the patient's skin under the action of current applied to two electrodes, one of which is attached to the reservoir. The polarity of the current may be alternated periodically to control the amount of drug delivered. Sibalis does not disclose the use of iontophoresis for removing a substance from a patient's tissue.
LaPrade U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,108 discloses alternating polarity for the delivery of drugs in which the surface area of both electrodes (each alternating between being the anode and cathode) is available to deliver the drug. The LaPrade disclosure does not suggest that: (1) a single electrode may be used as a collector during iontophoretic extraction, with that electrode alternating between being an anode and a cathode; (2) two electrodes may act alternatively as anode and cathode during iontophoretic extraction, or (3) iontophoresis can be used generally for removing substances from tissue.
Some alternating polarity patents for drug delivery, such as the above LaPrade and Lattin patents, focus on increasing drug dosage with the same size patch. The principle is that the available surface area for delivery is larger for alternating polarity because each electrode can be both an anode and a cathode, rather than one electrode being the "active" electrode and the other electrode taking up space, but not helping drug delivery, as the "indifferent" electrode. This results in more drug delivery, but would not aid in extraction where substance flux, not "total" substance delivered, is the critical factor.
Teijin LTD, Japanese patent publication 4224770, discloses an apparatus with electrodes for attachment to skin which has hydrous medium for electrically contacting the electrodes, containing medically active agent to be absorbed through the skin, and current polarity switching means. Apparently, this patent is designed to reduce pH deviation.
Teijin LTD, Japanese patent publication 3045272, discloses a compact iontophoresis device which comprises electrodes containing medicine and applied with high frequency AC for percutaneous administration and with the objective of reducing skin irritation.